Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.

It had been over 13 years since the last time The Addams Family was seen on
television. Like most things, they had simply fallen out of the public
consciousness beyond any kind of reruns airing. Or, so it was believed. During
a ride from a movie screening, a van full of 20th Century Fox studio
executives broke out into a spontaneous singalong of the theme from the 1960s
sitcom by Vic
Mizzy. Believing there was enough residual recognition of the
franchise, head of production Scott Rudin proposed to
studio chiefs Barry Diller and Leonard
Goldberg, all of whom had been in the van, that there was potential
for a successful Addams Family movie.

And so production began on the $30 million epic. The
film was written by Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands)
and Larry
Wilson (Beetlejuice)
and was helmed by first-time director Barry Sonnefeld after
previous choices became unavailable (one of them being Tim Burton, who
had worked with the two writers on the named films). The film consciously made
use of creator Charles Addams’
extensive library of drawings, incorporating many of the strips’ gags into the
narrative as possible (such as the opening bit of the family dumping bubbling
tar on Christmas carolers), while also taking several cues from the sitcom (the
characters’ names, some of their trademark character traits, penchant for
dances, etc.). However, some liberties were taken as Fester (Christopher
Lloyd) became Gomez’s (Raul Julia) older
brother, rather than Morticia’s (Anjelica Huston) uncle,
and Grandmama (Judith Malina) was
Morticia’s mother rather than Gomez’s.

All in the Addams family.

The plot centered around Fester’s 25-year absence
after a falling out with Gomez. The Addams’ crooked lawyer, Tully Alford (Dan Hedaya),
was in deep debt to Abigail Craven (Elizabeth Wilson) and
plotted to help her steal the Addams’ wealth using her “son”, Gordon (Lloyd),
who resembled Fester. The film also starred Christina Ricci as
Wednesday, Jimmy Workman as Pugsley,
Carel Struycken
as Lurch and Christopher Hart’s hand
as Thing. The film was released on November 22, 1991, and although it was not
critically successful, it was a box office success taking in over $113 million.
Huston was nominated for a Golden Globe, the film was
nominated for an Academy
Award, and it won “Best Horror Film of the Year” by the Horror
Hall of Fame. Additionally, the pinball machine
based on the film became the best-selling and highest-produced of all time.

In the wake of all that success, a sequel, Addams Family Values,
was green-lit, but producers decided to keep the momentum going in between with
the production of an animated series that tied into the film. Turning once again to Hanna-Barbera,
the new Addams Family cartoon bore
little resemblance to their earlier
effort with a return to the situational comedy elements set in and
about their macabre mansion, located in the contrastingly bright town of
Happydale Heights. Hanna-Barbera’s Philippine subsidiary, Fil-Cartoons,
Inc., handled the animation duties on the series.

It's the little things that make Wednesday happy.

John Astin returned to reprise his role of Gomez from
the 1960s sitcom, of which he was the last surviving member. Joining him was
Nancy Linari as Morticia, Debi Derryberry as Wednesday, Jeannie Elias as
Pugsley, Rip Taylor as Fester, Carol Channing as Grandmama, Jim Cummings as
Lurch and Pat Fraley as Cousin Itt. Unlike other Hanna-Barbera revival series,
all-new character models were used for the show which took Charles Addams’
original designs and combined them with elements from the sitcom and movie. For
instance, Wednesday’s voice displayed the lack of enthusiasm and brooding her
movie counterpart did, but her physical appearance and movement was more in
line with the happy-go-lucky portrayal from the sitcom. Emily Michels
and Andre
St-Amour served as the series’ character designers.

The family that plays together...

While the macabre elements of the characters had to
be toned down for Saturday morning television, many of their antics were still
present. Fester maintained his penchant for blowing things (and himself) up, as
did Gomez with his trains. Fester was also given a desire to make comic books
centered around his alter-ego, Festerman. Morticia maintained her love of
horticulture with wild, man-eating plants, but was also depicted as a painter.
Grandmama was given the added occupation of running a psychic hotline, which
was frequently the recipient of wrong number calls. Grandmama was often at odds
with Fester, who doubted her psychic abilities. Thing maintained his ability to
pull almost anything out of the box in which he dwelt, but was given the
seeming ability to defy gravity more than other versions. Torture devices,
sharp weapons, and other implements of death also made frequent appearances,
although most of the time their use was depicted through sound effects
off-camera.

The Normanmeyers, meant to be the "normal" ones.

Populating the town was a host of new characters
created for the show. Their next-door neighbors were the incredibly normal
family, the Normanmeyers. Norman (Rob Paulson, impersonating Paul Lynde),
was the CEO of an underwear company called Normanwear and almost everything he
did led back to underwear in some form or other. Norman often engaged in plots
to foil anything the Addamses were doing or get them evicted from their house
with the help of his wife, Normina (Edie McClurg). Only their son, Norman, Jr.,
or “N.J.” (Dick Beals), liked the Addamses and often spoke out against his
parents’ attempts against them. Despite their best efforts, the Normanmeyer’s
plans usually backfired and the Addamses saw all their actions as a term of
endearment; particularly Fester, who regarded “Norm” as his best friend.

"Oh." "No."

Recurring characters included the villainous Spy
Twins (both Cummings). They were identical twin criminals who frequently went
up against Itt on his missions and set their sights on the Addams’ fortune.
They frequently spoke together, alternating between words in a sentence. Harry
Palmer (Cummings, impersonating William Shatner) was a movie
star whose hand lost in an audition to Thing, causing Palmer to develop a
grudge and seek revenge against him.

Thing, superstar!

The Addams
Family debuted on September 12, 1992 on ABC. The series used a reworked version of
Mizzy’s theme, and the ending version had all-new sound effects in place of the
snapping. The rest of the series’ music was by Matt Muhoberac, John Zuker
and Guy
Moon. The Lady Colyton, Addams’
ex-wife Barbara Barb who had received some of his copyrights in the divorce
settlement, served as a creative consultant on the series.

The contents of Fester's coat.

Most of the show’s episodes were single stories, but
several were broken up into three segments. Each episode would end with the
Addamses looking to celebrate with a family dance. The first suggestion was
usually rejected due to a weird requirement they couldn’t meet at the time, and
usually they went with the second one. Bill Matheny and Lane Raichert
were the principal writers or story contributors, with additional scripting by David Schwartz,
Earl
Kress, and Ron Myrick. Myrick also
served as one of the producers and directors. By 1993, The Addams Family was ABC’s top-rated Saturday morning program, and
one of the highest rated programs of its kind on any of the four major
networks. The series was renewed for a second season and ended after 21
episodes. It continued on in reruns until the spring of 1995 when it finally
left ABC’s schedule.

It wouldn’t be long before the Addamses returned to
television, as Warner Bros. released a
direct-to-video movie called Addams Family
Reunionin 1998 that
served as a pilot for a new live-action show, The New Addams Family. Despite only running a year, the series ran
one episode longer than the original. In 2010, a stop-motion animated film from
Illumination Entertainment failed to be produced, but a musical
version of the franchise hit Broadway. In 2013, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
the current rights holders of the property, announced
plans to reboot the movie series with an animated film. Although we
won’t likely see another Saturday incarnation of these creepy and kooky
characters, chances are The Addams Family
will find a way to stay unburied.

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“Happyester Fester” (9/12/92) – Fester creates a new fabric that
Norman manages to acquire, not realizing it has an itchy side effect that only
the Addamses could appreciate.

“Dead and Breakfast” (9/19/92) – The Addams home is turned into a dead
and breakfast for a school project which Norman wants to ruin and a guest wants
to use to steal their fortune.

“The Day Gomez Failed” (9/26/92) – Gomez has grown bored with being
successful and tries his best to become a failure, which he ultimately fails
at.

“Girlfriendstein / Pugsley by the Numbers / Beware of Thing” (10/3/92)
– When the family discovers Lurch was dumped by his girlfriend, Fester decides
to build him a new one. / Tired of Pugsley’s antics, Wednesday uses her
mother’s living paint to create a new one. / The Spy twins decide to try for
the Addams vault, which is guarded by Thing.

“N.J. Addams” (10/10/92) – N.J. decides to run away from home and
moves in with the Addams disguised as cousin Mumbles Addams.

“A Thing is Born / Choke and Dagger / Fester’s Diary” (10/17/92) –
Thing becomes rich and famous, making an enemy out of hand model Harry Palmer.
/ Wednesday and Pugsley accompany Cousin Itt on his latest mission and help him
against the Spy Twins. / Fester writes about his day in his diary.

“Sir Pugsley / Festerman / Art to Art” (10/24/92) – Gomez and Fester
give Pugsley tips on how to beat Wednesday in the annual family joust. / Fester
reads Wednesday the new comic he created: Festerman! / Lurch and Thing try to
help Morticia reclaim her artistic touch.

“Puttergeist” (10/31/92) – Wednesday and Pugsley don’t believe in the
legend of the golfer who haunts the town, despite encountering a couple of them
on Halloween night.

“F.T.V.” (11/7/92) – The Normanmeyers plan to ruin the Addams’ new
television station.

“Itt’s Over” (11/14/92) – Attempts to remove hard hair from Fester’s
head seemingly results in Itt’s demise, and Norman gets it all on camera and
has him arrested.

“Hide and Go Lurch / Hook, Line and Stinkers / A Sword Fightin’ Thing”
(11/21/92) – A toot of the Hiding Horn has Lurch looking for Gomez and
Fester—and constantly finding them. / The Spy Twins kidnap Wednesday and
Pugsley to lure Itt into a trap. / Gomez tries to relax, but Thing wants to
sword fight.

“Addams Family PTA” (11/28/92) – Morticia wants to spend more time
with her kids so she gets a job at their school.

“Color Me Addams” (9/18/93) – Gomez convinces Morticia to hold an art
show with her works and Normina plans to sabotage it.

“No Ifs, Ands or Butlers” (9/25/93) – Lurch goes off to be a cowboy,
but the local foreman wants to make sure he fails at it.

“Jack and Jill and the Beanstalk / Festerman Returns / Hand Delivered”
(10/2/93) – Wednesday and Pugsley tell Fester their own version of Jack and Jill. / Fester reads his latest
Festerman comic to Wednesday and
Thing after a publisher rejects it. / A mail carrier is at odds with Thing when
he wants to retrieve the Addams’ mail himself.

“Sweetheart of a Brother” (10/9/93) – Pugsley would do anything to
attract the new girl at school, even take normalizing formula that makes him
more like the Normanmeyers.

“Double O Honeymoon” (10/16/93) – Itt’s latest exploits inspire Gomez
and Morticia to go on a spy-themed honeymoon, only to have to play spy for real
to rescue their family from Itt’s last foe.

“Then Came Granny / Pet Show Thing / Fester Sings the Fester Way”
(10/23/93) – Grandmama must return to Crystal Rock to reclaim her psychic
powers. / A disguised Thing is entered into a pet show where the contestants
are kidnapped by Harry Palmer. / Fester sings about life with his family.

“Camp Addams / Little Doll Lost / King of the Polycotton Blues”
(10/30/93) – Wednesday and Pugsley end up in a summer camp run by a strict
counselor. / Lurch replaces Marie after it’s believed she burned up in the
fireplace. / N.J.’s parents sing to him about why they ate the Addamses.